7 Dec
1997
7 Dec
'97
7:54 p.m.
How important
is it to obtain computers in their "original" state? Is it
worth it to save a computer that is known to have been hacked together?
99 times out of a 100, I'd prefer to have the "hacked" computer rather
than the "original". At least in the minicomputer world, just about every
modificiation is there for a very important purpose - it either fixes
a bug in the hardware or adds an actual enhancement. If the modification
was absolutely useful at the time it was made - and is something that
every sane original owner did - then it's part of the culture of the
machine!
Some computers are basically unusable in their original form. Take the
Altair 8800's original power supply. Please!
I don't know about other folks, but I don't collect computers to get
pristine working examples that are filed away forever with "do
not touch" signs on them :-).
Exactly! Any hacks, mods or such that makes a machine more useful
unless some can stand the originals in form. For me,
I rather hack it to usefulness even it's a original NOS and smells
new. In Mac Plus, a resistor has to be cut and moved, maybe removed
when configuring the memory upgrade for example. Sheesh, I wished
that Mac Plus has capacity to take more than 4mb stock.
Jason D.
Tim.